An instruction (last) in the will

An instruction (last) is a direction. The will directs someone to do something or to refrain from something. That is not a share of the estate. A share of the estate is a fraction of the estate. A legacy is a particular asset or sum. The instruction is the third figure: a task. In the file it belongs with the tasks or with an entry, not with the heirs as an extra person with a fraction. The person who must carry out the instruction does not become an heir by that alone.

A clear example is maintaining a grave. The direction then names the grave and the maintenance. In the file that becomes a task, with the deed as the source and with the person the deed designates. The estimate for that maintenance belongs as an entry or as a task in the file, not as an heir. There is no person involved called grave. There is no fraction for the maintenance. An amount is added only if a document names that amount. An invented yearly sum does not belong.

The instruction remains even if there is not yet an invoice. The task can be open, with the question what the maintenance costs and who sends the invoice. That question is enough. An empty entry named maintenance of the grave says more than a round amount without a source. If an invoice arrives later, that invoice is the source of the amount and of the payment, if the payment has taken place. The program does not pay the invoice and does not conclude a contract for the grave.

Other directions work the same way. An instruction to do something the deed names becomes a task with a source. The file does not copy standard instructions that are not in this will. The person who must act stands with the task. If that person is also an heir, the fraction and the task remain two rules. If that person is not, no share of the estate is added in order to give the instruction a place. The direction stays readable without making anyone an heir.

Ervazo does not turn an instruction (last) into an heir and does not calculate by way of advice. It draws up no deed and makes no payment. The estimate remains an entry or a task. The civil-law notary, the court or the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) decides the specific case. The direction remains a direction in the file, with an entry or a task for the estimate, until a document provides otherwise.